DETECTIVES hunting a Coventry man suspected of killing a family-of-four are to take their search to mainland Europe.

Anxiang Du, of Daimler Green, is still at large four months after the horrific murders in Northamptonshire.

Detectives leading the manhunt have told the Telegraph they are now preparing a major operation on the continent.

University lecturer Jifeng Ding, his wife Helen Chui and their young daughters Xing and Alice were killed at their Northamptonshire home on April 29.

The four bodies were discovered by neighbours two days later. They all died as a result of stab wounds.

Du, aged 52, of Witnell Road, was named as a suspect by detectives who believe a car hired by the Ding family was taken by Du to flee the scene. It was later recovered in London.

The family is thought to have been targeted by Du after a bitter fall-out over businesses they ran together.

Detective Superintendent Glynn Timmins, of Northamptonshire Police, is leading the hunt for Du.

He told the Telegraph there were currently no active lines of inquiry as a

result of information passed on from the public. He said: “In the last three months the biggest proportion of our time has been spent investigating the individual reported sightings of Du.

“We are now approaching the 300 mark. Recently I was on annual leave in Brixham when I got a call that Avon & Somerset Police had arrested someone matching his description had been arrested in Taunton, so I raced over there but unfortunately it wasn’t him.

"The point being, the UK police forces are being very good at following up sightings.”

There are currently 20 to 25 officers working on the manhunt. They are currently planning to take the search abroad.

Det Supt Timmins said: “We have been doing a lot of research on Anxiang Du in terms of the places he likes to visit and the places he feels most comfortable, by speaking to friends, family and colleagues.

“We are coming to the end of that phase. When that is complete we will be taking the search to mainland Europe.

“It is possible he has taken a ferry, train or plane out of the country. We want to make the European law enforcement agencies as familiar with our suspect as we are.

"We can brief them and hopefully they will be able to respond like forces in the UK have been.”

Det Supt Timmins explained his team are “frequent contact” with Du’s wife, as part of their investigation.

He added: “We have a saying in the incident room: ‘he has to be lucky every day to evade capture, we only have to be lucky once’.”